Bulletin-board.



J. S. ABERNETHY.

| lfl- 1 1 90,069. Patented July 4, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

'J'. S. ABERNETHY.

BULLETIN BOARD.

APPLICATION FiLED DEC. 3, 915.

1 1 90,069 Patented July 4, 1916.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

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BULLETIN -BOARD.

Application filed December 3, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN S. ABERNETHY, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and a resident of Newton, county of Catawba, State of NorthCarolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBulletin-Boards, of which the following is a full and clearspecification.

This invention has relation to that class of bulletin boards of anelastic nature, namely, that class in which the unit or sectional systemis utilized to render it possible to enlarge or contract the sign-letterreceiving surface, the board being constructed of interchangeable unitsto enable this to be readily done.

The object of my improvements is to simplify and improve this type ofbulletin board, as more fully hereinafter set forth.

In the drawings Fi ure 1 is a perspective view of my bulletin boardcomplete; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one of thesections or unitsdetached; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the device shown in Fig. l withone of the foot pieces partly broken away; and Figs. i to 13, inclusive,detail views fully explained in the following specification. Fig. 1% isa side elevation, enlarged, of the type of screw that I prefer employingfor carrying the clamping thumb nuts.

In the drawings annexed, 1 designates a base section; 2, a top section;and 3, a 1nultiplicity of intermediate letter-carrying sections, allthese sections being detachably connected together to form the bulletinboard proper. This board may be suspended by means of a screw-eye dattached to the head section, or may be supported 011 an easel oragainst a wall, or, especially in case the board is of considerableheight, by means of a pair of foot members 5 and a pair of telescopingbraces (5, as more fully hereinafter set forth.

Each of the intermediate or letter-carrying sections consists of a pairof end blocks 7 connected rigidly by a bar 8 on whose front face isattached two or more flat springs 9 which are bowed outwardly. Fastenedto the upper edge of the bar 8 and extending practically its full lengthis a flat metal strip 10 whose front edge projects forwardly beyond thevertical plane of the outer face of the bowed springs 9, said front edgebeing provided with two flanges 11, one projecting upwardly and theother downwardly. The face of this double flange 11,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 4., 1916. Serial no. 64,858.

at its ends, abuts against inwardly-extending shoulders 12 formed on theinner vertical edges of the end blocks 7. A plate 13 1s resilientlypressed forwardly by means of the bowed springs 9 and between this plateand the flange 11, the letter blocks or plates 14 are clamped, as shownmore particularly in Fig. 1.

Each strip or plate 13 is supplied along its upper edge with a flange 15which is formed by bending over the upper edge of said plate. Thisflange 15 depends behind the plate and is sprung or curved rearwardlyaway from the rear face of the plate. The letter plates 14 are attachedto the lettercarrying plate 13 by being hung along the upper edgethereof, each of the letter plates being provided with a hook 16 at itsupper end to enable this to be readily done, this hook being'adapted tohave a frictional fit over the upper edge of the letter-carrying plate,so that its depending part will clamp against the rear face of thedepending spring flange 15. It will be seen that the letters may be thuseasily attached to the letter-carrying plate 13 at any point along itslength. The letter plates may be any suitable width, but it is desirablethat most of them shall have approximately the same width. It will beobserved that the bowed springs 9 are arranged near the end blocks 7, sothat they will not be in the way ofthe depending hooks 16 of the letterplates, thereby enabling the letter plates 14- to be spaced may bedesirable'along the plates 13. It will be observed also that when theletter-carrying plate 13, with the letters disposed thereon as desiredor needed, is pressed up behind the depending flange 11, the bowedsprings will press against the lower edges of the springflanges 15 andthus resiliently clam) the plate with its letters in position. To insurethe letter-carrying plate being pressed upwardly against the strip '10and outwardly against the depending flange 11, the length of thedepending flange 15 is I such that it engages the'bowed springs 9 atpoints above their centers, as shown particu larly in Fig. 4.

lVhen the units, constructed in the manner above described,aresuperposed, with the end blocks 7 mounted one upon .the' other, itwill'be seen that the depending ends of the letter plates 14- and thelower edge of the letter-carrying plate 13 will en gage behind theupstanding one of the flanges 11 of the section below, so that both theplate 13 and the lower ends of the letter plates will be clamped alongthe lower edge as well as along the upper edge of the section, therebyfirmly holding all the parts in position.

In assembling the letters on each section, it is simply necessary tospring them along on the upper edge of the letter-carrying plate andthen shove the plate up behind the flange 11 of the section to which theplate is to be attached, the bowed springs 9 being pressed inwardlysufficiently to permit this to be done; the bowed springs will then holdthe plate 14 and itsletters in position until the section is put intoplace in the board. In the act of putting the section in place into theboard, the lower edge of the plate 13 and the lower ends of the lettersare sprung inwardly far enough to pass down behind the upstanding flange11 of the section below. It will thus be seen that each of the sectionsmay have its letters arranged independently of each of the othersections and will lit in between any two sec tions of the board, therebyenabling me to increase or decrease the length and capacity of the boardat will.

As a ready means of detachably connecting the sections together andholding them in rigid alinement when superposed in the manner described,I rigidly attach to each of the end blocks 7 an upwardly projectingmetal plate 17 provided in the part which projects above the sectionwith an upwardly-opening vertical slot 18. Along the outer front edge ofthe plate 17 is a verti-' cal flange 19, and at the upper end of theplate is formed a pair of rearwardlyextending stop lugs 20. In the rearface of each of the blocks, directly under the plate 17 and in alinementwith the slot 18, I fasten into the block a rearwardly-extending screwprovided at its rear end with a head 21. On the screw, between the head21 and the block, is mounted a thumb nut 22. The screw may be fastenedinto the wooden block 7 in any suitable manner, but I prefer to pointand thread the inner end of the screw after the manner of a wood screw,so that it may be fastened to the block by simply screwing it thereintoby applying a screw driver to the head 21. But, whatever manner of screwis fastened to the wooden block, it will be understood, of course, thatthe portion of the screw upon. which the thumb nut works shall bethreaded in the manner of a metal screw. WVith the sections thusprovided with the slotted plate 17 and the thumb nut clamping devices,it will be seen that they may be readily connected together by simplyplacing the sections one upon the other in such manner that the twoscrews of one section will pass down into the open slot of the plates ofthe lower section, whereupon, by screwing up the thumb nuts 22, thesections will be rig idly secured together in alinement. lhe verticalflanges 19 assist in holding the parts in alinement by engagement in thegrooves 23 in the end blocks 7, as will be obvious; and to assist inpositioning the sections one upon the other, I prefer bevelin the upperfront corners of the plate 17, as at 2d.

It will be observed that the lugs 20 overhang the thumb nuts, so that inorder to detach a section the thumb nuts must be screwed backwardly farenough to pass freely over these lugs; it will be observed, therefore,that the mere loosening of one or more of the thumb nuts will not permitdisconnection of the sections, thereby preventing mere carelessness inthe tightening up of the nuts from rendering the bulletin board liableto separation or disconnection at any point in its length. In otherwords, the employment of one or more lugs at the upper end of each ofthe plates 17 renders it p "actically certain that accidentaldisconnection of the sections cannot occur, since it is necessary, inorder to disconnect the sec tions, to unscrew the thumb nuts to aconsidcrable distance before they can pass the lugs. These lugs arefurther advantageous in that they permit the sections to be loosened uppurposely without liability of disconnection of the sections, thisloosening up of the sections on purpose being desirable in some cases,such as where the sections are distorted slightly or too much strainedby weather conditions.

It will be observed that the sections may be made of varying heights solong as they do not vary in length, and it will be observed also that insome cases where large letters are desired there will be provided one ormore sections of greater height or depth than the others, the lettersfor these enlarged sections being correspondingly lengthened andwidened. It will also be observed that without departing from the spiritof my invention, the sections maybe secured together in reversedrelation, that is, the parts may be so arranged that they may beattached together from the bottom instead of at the top, as in thesample of my invention I have illustrated and described; and it will befurther observed that various details of my device may be varied withoutdeparting from the invention as expressed in the claims appended. Thefoot pieces 5 are provided with the plates 17 so that they may beattached to the base section 1 in the same manner as the letter-carryingsections are attached to each other. The braces 6 have their lower endsset in sockets in the foot pieces, and the upper member 25 of thetelescoping braces may be provided with an eye 26 which may bedetachably engaged over the head of one of the upper screws or to anyother part of the board proper. The upper member 25 is fastened in itsadjusted position in the lower member of the brace by means of one ormore set screws 27.

It will be understood that while I prefer.

to use the metal letter-plates herein de scribed and shown, it is withinthe spirit of my invention to employ plates made of cardboard or othermaterial, either with or without the hooks.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. A bulletin board embodying interchangeable superposed sections andmeans for detachably attaching the sections together in verticalalinement, a letter-carrying strip or plate for each section, detachableletter plates carried by said strip or plate, and means for detachablyattaching said strip and letters to the section, said means embodyingsprings pressing forwardly against said letter-carrying strip or plate.

2. A bulletin board consisting of superposed interchangeable sectionsand means for detachably connecting them together, each sectionconsisting of end blocks, a connecting board, a metal strip attached toone edge of this board and projecting forwardly and provided withupwardly and clownwardly extending flanges, bowed springs attached tothe front faces of these boards, a letter-carrying plate for eachsection having a width approximating that of said board and beingadapted to be held against said upwardly and downwardly extendingflanges by said springs, and letter plates held in position on saidplate by the pressure of said springs.

3. A bulletin board comprising interchangeable superposed sections andmeans for detachably locking said sections to gether, said meansconsisting of plates fastened to each section and projecting beyond onelongitudinal edge thereof, the projecting ends being provided withopen-ended slots; screws on each section adapted to enter the slots inthe plates on the adjacent section; and clamping thumb nuts on thesescrews, for the purpose set forth.

a. A bulletin board comprising interchangeable superposed sections andmeans for detachably locking said sections together, said meansconsisting of plates fastened to each section and projecting beyond onelongitudinal edge thereof, the projecting ends being provided withopen-ended slots; screws on each section adapted to enter the slots inthe plates on the adjacent section; and clamping thumb nuts on thesescrews; each of said plates being provided at one vertical edge with arearwardly-extending lug adjacent the open end of the slot, to form astop for the thumb nut.

5. A bulletin board comprising interchangeable superposed sectionstransversely grooved and means for detachably locking said sectionstogether, said means consisting of plates fastened to each section andprojecting beyond one longitudinal edge thereof, the projecting endsbeing provided with open-ended slots; screws on each section adapted toenter the slots in the plates on the adjacent section; and clampingthumb nuts on these screws; the projecting slotted part of each of saidplates being provided with a vertical flange fitting into one of saidtransverse grooves in the adjacent section.

6. A bulletin board comprising interchangeable superposed sections andmeans for detachably locking said sections together, said meansconsisting of slotted plates fastened to each section and screws andthumb nuts attached to each section, each of said screws having a woodscrew point screwed into the section and a rearwardly-projecting headedend portion threaded for the reception of the thumb nut.

7. A bulletin board comprising superposed interchangeable sections,means for detachably connecting them together, metal strips projectingforwardly at the joint between each two adjacent sections and each stripprovided at its front edge with an upwardlyextending and adownwardly-extending JOHN SAMUEL ABERNETHY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G.

